Does Anyone Still Use Aquarium Salt?

[10 Tanks]

Salting on a regular basis seems to have been big before the 'water change era" we are in now. a lot of goldfish keepers still hold to it, but they have fish that poop like hippos. I'm always exxpecting it to make a comeback as advice because people are always looking to reduce water changes, and a lot of aquarists in agricultural regions have heavy nitrates in their tapwater. We live in a world where a lot of people need to move to urban areas to get clean water...

It won't be good advice, but a lot of the aquarium myths we have faith in are counter-productive. This one will come around again soon.

Thanks Gary. I've never been one to slack off on water changes. I've always changed half the water weekly. But, I don't keep small tanks, because I keep mostly varieties of Goldfish. I'd think the small tanks under say 45 gallons would need half the water changed a couple of times a week. As for the salt, that's up to the water keeper. I wouldn't be without it.

10 Tanks

 

[kribensis12]

Agree with others here. Salt is debilitating to freshwater fish, my article details:

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Byron, I'm curious. Do you dispute that salt is an effective treatment for conditions such as Ich? It seems your article is more geared towards long-term use of salt v. short term use as a treatment.

 

[Byron]

Byron, I'm curious. Do you dispute that salt is an effective treatment for conditions such as Ich? It seems your article is more geared towards long-term use of salt v. short term use as a treatment.

Salt is fine as a treatment for a specific disease/issue, where salt is reasonably safe on a temporary basis for the impacted fish and where salt is an effective treatment for that problem.

Salt added to any freshwater aquarium (= an aquarium holding freshwater fish species) for no specific reason is detrimental to those fish in the vast majority of cases. The exception is fish from hard water that may be able to tolerate or even need minimal salt--the African Rift Lakes for example do have salinity though very low. But salinity is something that no freshwater habitat has. The fish in each habitat have evolved to function in that specific water which is why this issue is important. Therefore, it is a matter of science that freshwater fish will not benefit from continual salinity because of the biological/physiological issues discussed in my article.

 

[emeraldking]

Does Anyone Still Use Aquarium Salt?​

I do. But more when it's needed. I still have a bucket full of aquarium salt. And I also have some bags with untreated sea salt.

 

[10 Tanks]

Salt is fine as a treatment for a specific disease/issue, where salt is reasonably safe on a temporary basis for the impacted fish and where salt is an effective treatment for that problem.

Salt added to any freshwater aquarium (= an aquarium holding freshwater fish species) for no specific reason is detrimental to those fish in the vast majority of cases. The exception is fish from hard water that may be able to tolerate or even need minimal salt--the African Rift Lakes for example do have salinity though very low. But salinity is something that no freshwater habitat has. The fish in each habitat have evolved to function in that specific water which is why this issue is important. Therefore, it is a matter of science that freshwater fish will not benefit from continual salinity because of the biological/physiological issues discussed in my article.

Hello Byron. Good points. Our local freshwater does contain salt, roughly one percent. This is likely the case with most public drinking water. I use a little salt in my fish tanks, a bit less than a tablespoon for every five gallons of replacement water. To me, it makes good sense to use a little regularly than to have to use a lot if your fish come down with something.

10 Tanks

 

[Byron]

Hello Byron. Good points. Our local freshwater does contain salt, roughly one percent. This is likely the case with most public drinking water. I use a little salt in my fish tanks, a bit less than a tablespoon for every five gallons of replacement water. To me, it makes good sense to use a little regularly than to have to use a lot if your fish come down with something.

10 Tanks

If you read my linked article you will see this is not the case. There is absolutely no benefit to using salt as any sort of prevention, and it is harming especially soft water fish. If you need salt to treat "x" problem, and if salt is a safe option considering the inhabitants, and if salt is regarded as the most effective for "x" problem...then use it but only to treat a specific uissue.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have read research on this topic- surprise, surprise

The one area that the research shows that salt is benefical for fw fish is in transport. That is in the bag water. But such studies are usually limited to a single species or a few species. So it is hard to generalize to all fw fish.

Salt contrubutes to conductivity/TDS. But it does not show up in a GH or KH test. Salt effectively make water "harder" in terms of there being more stuff dissolved in it. But if one doesn't have a conductivity or TDS meter, you will never see this.

The reason some fish normally live in freshwater and others live in seawater is that one or the other environment provides them with opportunities that have traditionally contributed to their survival. An obvious difference between the two habitats is salt concentration. Freshwater fish maintain the physiological mechanisms that permit them to concentrate salts within their bodies in a salt-deficient environment; marine fish, on the other hand, excrete excess salts in a hypertonic environment. Fish that live in both environments retain both mechanisms.

from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-some-fish-normally/